Pam does marbling in the dye studio!

This week I am finishing up some custom projects and moving on to more business as usual- belly dancing veils and perhaps some scarves and tunics.

Above is a sample of some fabric I made for a customer in Pennsylvania and had another one in New York who ordered a dance veil in the same fabric. It's fun to make. It looks like fire with flecks of gold laced throughout. I have several other custom orders ready to start- one is a large wedding chuppah and the others are finishing up and getting ready to be sent. The beat goes on.

Last week some members of the California Fiber Artists, (http://www.cafiberartists.com/) of which I am a member, came to the dye studio to learn how to use thickened Procion MX dyes. Several of them had played with it before and some had not.


I asked Pam to try her hand at marbling so that my Quilt University students could see how to do a bonus project along with us- first: pour or brush thickened dye onto your work table. I put a sheet of plastic down first.

You can use left over dye paint (not more than 2 hours old) or make fresh stuff if you would rather do it that way.

Lay on top of the paint a piece of dry, preshrunk cotton.

Press into the paints, squishing them around with the flat of your hands. If you dig into the fabric with a paint brush you can make lines or squiggles! Wear gloves. Duh. This is funny if you were there....

Lift the fabric carefully and slowly from the table and there you have it! Allow to sit for a minimum of 1 hour. It can dry completely before rinsing but doesn't have to if you don't have the time or patience to wait around for it all day. Allowing the fabric to sit for longer than 1 hour before rinsing will not cause it to be any deeper color.

Rinse well and quickly in warm water and dry.

Nice, eh?

If this process intrigues you, consider taking my class at http://www.quiltuniversity.com/ called "Thick and Thin". It will start up again August 20th and runs for 5 lessons.

What are you working on these days?